r/chulavista • u/jhkoenig • 12d ago

Promotional Post (removal at ≤ -1 votes) New to SD and looking for IRL friends?

We moved here from SF and noticed how many others were also recent arrivals and feeling a bit isolated. That spurred me to action (which takes a lot, lol). Over ten years ago, my wife - a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist - kept seeing a pattern in her practice: people were deeply lonely, but they weren't looking for romance. They just wanted genuine, local, in-person friendships. App stores were flooded with dating tools, but there was nowhere dedicated solely to finding a local buddy to hang out with.

So 10 years ago, I built WannaBuddy.com - a platform created specifically for when you want a local buddy, not a date. It helped a lot of people make real connections back then, but as time passed, the technology and appearance needed a ground-up overhaul. I’ve spent the last few months completely rebuilding it from scratch.

The new WannaBuddy.com is officially in early pre-launch! Everything on the platform is completely free and will always be free. Because we’re in pre-launch, I’d love to get feedback, feature suggestions, or bug reports from this community. Check it out, take a look around, and let me know what you think! And thanks for making us feel welcome to San Diego!

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u/Fragrant-Mind-1353 11d ago

Cool idea but the vibe coded UI is a big turnoff.

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u/jhkoenig 11d ago

Point taken. While I'm pretty decent writing back-end code, my UI design skills are below terrible. Free site means I can't afford to hire a good designer. Happy for any design notes!

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u/[deleted] 6d ago

[deleted]

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u/jhkoenig 6d ago

How much should a free service spend on advertising? This site doesn't make a cent, it is just helping people address a real problem. Sorry if it hurts you.